john boehner said his plan cuts $2.2 trillion over ten years. you shouldn't be comparing those two nubs. what you should think about is $16 trillion. that's how much debt the country has. according to bill groesdz, the man who runs the biggest fund, ie, the man who decides how much we can spend and borrow, we have to cut spending or raise taxes. that's $1.6 trillion a year. that's $1.2 trillion a year more than the president proposes. and $1.38 trillion a year more than john boehner has offered. yeah. peanuts. i recently spoke with erskine bowles, the bowles of simpson-bowles, and he agrees that he's right. >> absolutely. he's 1pen hearst right. i don't know if 16 is the number, but i would be happier at $5 trillion or $6 trillion because that's what we need to solve the number long term. >> those are big numbers. i want to bring in john avlon right now. this is what i find so incredible. we get so focused on is there going to be a deal, and the politics of a deal and going off the cliff and if the cliff is a slope that we're missing the bigger